Criminal Justice System Statistics

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Criminal Justice System Statistics A Guide to Criminal Justice Statistics Last updated November 2020 1 Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................. 3 Overview of Criminal Justice Statistics .................................................................. 4 Background to Criminal Justice Statistics bulletin ................................................... 4 Timeframe and publication frequency ..................................................................... 4 Revisions policy ..................................................................................................... 5 Data revisions ........................................................................................................ 6 Data Sources, Quality and Reporting ..................................................................... 6 Out of court disposals (OOCDs) ............................................................................. 6 Penalty Notices for Disorder (PND) .................................................................... 7 Police Cautions .................................................................................................. 7 Cannabis and Khat warnings .............................................................................. 8 Community resolutions ....................................................................................... 8 Court proceedings .................................................................................................. 9 Data sources ...................................................................................................... 9 Validation process .............................................................................................. 9 Information not held within the Court Proceedings Database ........................... 10 How information is reported .............................................................................. 11 Reporting on the principal offence and principal sentence ................................ 12 Offence not known ........................................................................................... 14 Remands .......................................................................................................... 15 Failure to appear (FTA) warrants ...................................................................... 16 Fines ................................................................................................................ 17 Comparison with alternative sources of figures ................................................ 17 Offending histories and First Time Entrants .......................................................... 18 First time entrants (FTE) into the Criminal Justice System ............................... 18 First offences and further offences ................................................................... 21 Offending histories ........................................................................................... 21 Background to the Criminal Justice System ........................................................ 22 Reporting crime .................................................................................................... 22 Investigation ..................................................................................................... 22 Offences not prosecuted by the police .............................................................. 22 Deciding what happens with a case ................................................................. 22 Out of court disposals (OOCDs) ........................................................................... 23 Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs) and Fixed Penalty Notices ...................... 23 Cautions ........................................................................................................... 25 Cannabis and Khat warnings ............................................................................ 26 Community Resolutions.................................................................................... 26 Court proceedings ................................................................................................ 27 Charging and case management ...................................................................... 27 Court jurisdiction and types of case .................................................................. 27 Remand decisions ............................................................................................ 29 Pleas and convictions ....................................................................................... 29 Sentencing ....................................................................................................... 30 Disposals given in court ....................................................................................... 31 Immediate custody ........................................................................................... 31 Life sentences .................................................................................................. 32 Suspended sentence orders ............................................................................. 34 Community sentences ...................................................................................... 34 Fines ................................................................................................................ 35 Discharges ....................................................................................................... 35 Compensation .................................................................................................. 35 Further sentences and orders .......................................................................... 35 Sentences specifically for children .................................................................... 35 Legislation coming into effect in the reporting period ........................................ 39 Glossary ................................................................................................................. 46 Directory of related websites ................................................................................ 49 2 Introduction This document provides more detail on criminal justice statistics presented in the publication Criminal Justice Statistics and is intended to be used as a guide to concepts and definitions. The examples provided within this document are for the 2019 data as the full validation process is carried out each year on the complete calendar year data. The key areas covered are: i. An overview of Criminal Justice Statistics publications detailing the frequency and timings of the bulletin and the revisions policy. ii. Details of the data sources and any associated data quality issues. iii. Data developments relating to criminal justice statistics. iv. A high-level background to the criminal justice system (CJS) on the topics featured within the bulletin. v. Major legislation coming into effect in the period covered by the bulletin. vi. A glossary of the main terms used within the publication. vii. A list of relevant internet sites on the criminal justice system. In addition, a list of the offence classifications1 used by the Ministry of Justice for CJS statistical outputs can be found in the ‘Offence group classifications’ document on our Criminal Justice Statistics: December 2019 webpage: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly- december-2019 This list shows how the Ministry of Justice group lower level offences together within the published tables and data tools. It is based on the classification used by the Home Office for crime statistics, although there are differences reflecting the respective scopes and aims of these publications. This document includes a detailed structure for all Home Office offence codes in the 2019 data, to support the interpretation of the experimental statistics provided at this level, and a less-detailed version encompassing all codes. 1 These classifications are based on those implemented by the ONS in July 2013, and discussed in the methodological note ‘Presentational changes to National Statistics on police recorded crime in England and Wales’, Office for National Statistics Methodology Note, 18 July 2013 www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/method-quality/specific/crime-statistics-methodology/presentational-changes- on-police-recorded-crime-in-england-and-wales.pdf 3 Overview of Criminal Justice Statistics This section describes the background to the bulletin, the timing and frequency of the publication and the revisions policy relating to the statistics published. Background to Criminal Justice Statistics bulletin On 17 November 2010 the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) launched a consultation on improving its statistics. One of the proposals was to assess interest in a quarterly criminal justice statistics bulletin which would give a statistical overview of the criminal justice system. The response from the consultation showed there was support for this proposal and a demand for more timely statistics. Full details of the consultation and response can be found at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20111121205348/http:/www.justice.gov.uk/consult ations/565.htm The bulletin covers statistics from the whole criminal justice system and as a result the following individual Ministry of Justice publications were discontinued: • Criminal Statistics Annual; • Sentencing Statistics
Recommended publications
  • Domestic Abuse 26
    Violence against Women and Girls Crime Report 2014-2015 Contents Foreword by the Director of Public Prosecutions 3 Executive summary 5 Introduction 14 Violence against women and girls 16 Domestic abuse 26 Stalking and harassment 40 Rape 45 Sexual offences (excluding rape) 64 Forced marriage, honour based violence and female genital mutilation 71 Child abuse 78 Human trafficking 86 Prostitution 90 Pornography and obscenity 93 Annex 1: Prosecutions by Area 98 Glossary of terms 106 Glossary of acronyms 112 2 Foreword by the Director of Public Prosecutions Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) cases are an increasing proportion of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) work. They give us some of the most complex and sensitive decisions to take. In 2014-15 we reached the highest volume ever of all VAWG1 police referrals, charged defendants, prosecutions and convictions. Work with the police has successfully reversed the fall in volumes identified by the CPS over the previous few years, culminating in the conviction of over 11,000 more defendants – a 17% increase since 2013-14. For domestic violence, rape, sexual offences and child abuse, convictions reached the highest volume ever. In total 68,601 defendants were convicted for domestic abuse, a rise of 10,325, just under 18% from the previous year. 2,581 defendants were convicted of rape, an increase of 233, just under 10%, since the previous year. 631 more defendants were also convicted for child sexual abuse – a 19% rise, reaching the highest level ever of 3,975. Prosecutions commencing, in respect of stalking and harassment offences, also rose by 15.1% in 2014-15 from 2013-14.2 The conviction rate for domestic abuse remained relatively steady at 73.9%, against the large rise in prosecution and conviction volumes that reached a record high.
    [Show full text]
  • The Scottish Criminal Justice System
    The Scottish Criminal Justice System Background The Act of Union 1707 between Scotland and England permitted Scotland to retain its separate legal system, which continued to be administered in Scotland. This meant that, even prior to devolution; the Scottish justice system had its own court system, its own police forces, its own prosecution service and its own prison and criminal justice social work services. The 1998 Scotland Act devolved a range of powers from Westminster to the reconvened Scottish Parliament, which included legislative powers to administer the Scottish legal system. Legislative powers over some areas, including terrorism and legal safeguards for human rights, remain reserved to the United Kingdom. In addition, the Supreme Court, which was established in October 2009, sits as a Scottish Court to hear appeals from civil cases arising in Scotland, and also hears criminal cases where human rights are at issue. However, in most cases, final appeals relating to criminal cases continue to be heard by Scottish courts (for more detail see Joyce, 2004 - book section available here). The 2008 Act also devolved executive powers to the Scottish Government. The Cabinet Secretary for Justice has overall responsibility for criminal justice in Scotland, which includes “the justice system, security, access to justice, criminal law and procedure, civil law, the police, the legal profession, courts, sentencing, prisons and prisoners, victims and witnesses, reducing reoffending, youth justice, criminal justice social work, community safety, fire and rescue services, anti-social behaviour, drugs policy, violence reduction, anti-sectarianism and liquor licensing” (Scottish Government website.) The Scottish Parliament is responsible for scrutinising the policy and legislative proposals of the Scottish Government, and the Justice Committee fulfils much of the scrutiny in relation to criminal justice.
    [Show full text]
  • User Guide to Recorded Crime Statistics in Scotland
    User Guide to Recorded Crime Statistics in Scotland Justice Analytical Service October 2014 CONTENTS Page 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 4 2. Police Reform ..................................................................................................... 6 2.1 The Origins of Police Reform ........................................................................ 6 2.2 Consultation on Police Reform ...................................................................... 6 2.3 Police Scotland .............................................................................................. 7 2.4 Scottish Police Authority ................................................................................ 7 2.5 Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland ............................... 7 3. Roles of Organisations ...................................................................................... 9 3.1 Police Scotland .............................................................................................. 9 3.2 Scottish Police Authority .............................................................................. 10 3.3 Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland ............................. 10 3.4 Scottish Government ................................................................................... 10 4. Statistics from Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Government ............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Crime and Justice : Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2018-19
    Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2018-19 This bulletin forms part of the Scottish Government series of statistical bulletins on the criminal justice system. Statistics are presented on criminal proceedings concluded in Scottish courts and on a range of measures available as alternatives to prosecution, which are issued by the police and by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Detailed figures for 2018-19 are presented, along with selected trends for the last ten years. Further detailed tables are published as background statistics on the Scottish Government Crime and Justice Statistics website. A total of 89,733 people were proceeded against in Scottish criminal courts in 2018-19, a fall of 6% on 2017-18 (95,557 proceedings). The number of convictions fell at the same rate (6%) down to 78,503 in 2018-19 (from 83,179 in 2017-18). This continues the general downward trend of the last ten years with the exception of a short term rise in court activity between 2012-13 and 2014-15 (Chart 1). Convictions in 2018-19 were 35% lower than the ten-year high of 121,041 in 2009-10. Chart 1: Number of people proceeded against and those convicted 160 Proceeded against 140 120 Thousands 100 80 Convictions 60 40 20 0 Contents Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2018-19 ........................................................... 1 Contents ................................................................................................................... 2 Key points ..................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Report of a Complaint Handling Review in Relation to Police Scotland
    PIRC/00100/17 | September 2017 Report of a Complaint Handling Review in relation to Police Scotland independent and effective investigations and reviews independent and effective investigations and reviews PIRC/00100/17 | September 2017 Index 1. Role of the PIRC 2. Key findings 3. Background 4. The Review 5. Conclusions Page | 1 PIRC/00100/17 | September 2017 1. Role of the PIRC Sections 34 and 35 of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 (“the Act”) provide that the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (“the PIRC”) may examine the manner in which particular kinds of complaints are dealt with by Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority. Through agreements with UK police bodies operating in Scotland, the PIRC may also examine the manner in which these bodies deal with complaints. The PIRC cannot review complaints of criminal behaviour against police officers or police staff, or complaints made by persons serving, or who have served with the police, about the terms and conditions of their service. In performing this review function, the PIRC obtains information from the police body which dealt with the complaint. This information is considered together with information provided by the person who made the complaint (“the applicant”). An assessment is then made as to whether in all the circumstances the complaint was dealt with to a reasonable standard. Among the factors taken into account when making this assessment are the following: whether sufficient enquiries into the complaint have been carried out by the policing body; whether the policing body’s response to the complaint is supported by all material information available; whether in dealing with the complaint the policing body has adhered to all relevant policies, procedures and legal provisions; whether the policing body’s response to the complaint is adequately reasoned; and where the complaint has resulted in the policing body identifying measures necessary to improve its service, whether these measures are adequate and have been implemented.
    [Show full text]
  • Scottish Criminal Justice System: the Police)
    Scottish Criminal Justice System Background The Act of Union 1707 between Scotland and England permitted Scotland to retain its separate legal system, which continued to be administered in Scotland. This meant that, prior to devolution, the Scottish justice system had its own court system, its own police forces, its own prosecution service and its own prison and criminal justice social work services. The 1998 Scotland Act devolved a range of powers from Westminster to the reconvened Scottish Parliament, which included legislative powers to administer the Scottish legal system. Legislative powers over some areas, including terrorism and legal safeguards for human rights, remain reserved to the United Kingdom. In addition, the Supreme Court, which was established in October 2009, sits as a Scottish Court to hear appeals from civil cases arising in Scotland, and also hears criminal cases where human rights are at issue. However, in most cases, final appeals relating to criminal cases continue to be heard by Scottish courts. (All the above information from Joyce (2004) - book section available here). The 2008 Act also devolved executive powers to the Scottish Government. The Cabinet Secretary for Justice has overall responsibility for criminal justice in Scotland, which includes “the justice system, security, access to justice, criminal law and procedure, civil law, the police, the legal profession, courts, sentencing, prisons and prisoners, victims and witnesses, reducing reoffending, youth justice, criminal justice social work, community safety, fire and rescue services, anti-social behaviour, drugs policy, violence reduction, anti-sectarianism and liquor licensing” (Scottish Government website.) The Scottish Parliament is responsible for scrutinising the policy and legislative proposals of the Scottish Government, and the Justice Committee fulfils much of the scrutiny in relation to criminal justice.
    [Show full text]
  • Criminal Law
    The Law Commission (LAW COM. No. 96) CRIMINAL LAW OFFENCES RELATING TO INTERFERENCE WITH THE COURSE OF JUSTICE Laid before Parliament by the Lord High Chancellor pursuant to section 3(2) of the Law Commissions Act 1965 Ordered by The House of Commons to heprinted 7th November 1979 LONDON HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE 213 24.50 net k The Law Commission was set up by section 1 of the Law Commissions Act 1965 for the purpose of promoting the reform of the law. The Commissioners are- The Honourable Mr. Justice Kerr, Chairman. Mr. Stephen M. Cretney. Mr. Stephen Edell. Mr. W. A. B. Forbes, Q.C. Dr. Peter M. North. The Secretary of the Law Commission is Mr. J. C. R. Fieldsend and its offices are at Conquest House, 37-38 John Street, Theobalds Road, London, WClN 2BQ. 11 THE LAW COMMISSION CRIMINAL LAW CONTENTS Paragraph Page PART I: INTRODUCTION .......... 1.1-1.9 1 PART 11: PERJURY A . PRESENT LAW AND WORKING PAPER PROPOSALS ............. 2.1-2.7 4 1. Thelaw .............. 2.1-2.3 4 2 . The incidence of offences under the Perjury Act 1911 .............. 2.4-2.5 5 3. Working paper proposals ........ 2.6-2.7 7 B . RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO PERJURY IN JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS ........ 2.8-2.93 8 1. The problem of false evidence not given on oath and the meaning of “judicial proceedings” ............ 2.8-2.43 8 (a) Working paperproposals ...... 2.9-2.10 8 (b) The present law .......... 2.1 1-2.25 10 (i) The Evidence Act 1851. section 16 2.12-2.16 10 (ii) Express statutory powers of tribunals .........
    [Show full text]
  • Home Office Counting Rules for Fraud
    Home Office Counting Rules For Recorded Crime With effect from April 2021 Fraud Historic Fraud Offences In January 2007 the Fraud Act 2006 became law and repealed much of the previous fraud legislation. Whilst it is not possible to prosecute offenders under the new legislation for offences committed before the new act became law, the Home Office require the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau via Action Fraud to record fraud for statistical purposes, under the new legislation. Action Fraud Action Fraud is the name of the contact centre that records NFIB fraud and some cyber-enabled and cyber- dependent crimes such as Computer Misuse Act offences like hacking (Cyber Crime). Action Fraud does this through its’ contact centre and on-line reporting tool. The NFIB codes used in this section are used by Action Fraud to enable them to record specific fraud/cyber crime types reported to them that are then passed to the NFIB. These codes are also used to count fraud/cyber types passed to the NFIB in bulk data transfers from other data providers working in partnership with the NFIB, such as those in the banking and credit industry. All confirmed fraud/cyber crimes held within the NFIB database will use the NFIB codes. Action Fraud can only record NFIB fraud and cyber crimes. Where other notifiable offences are apparent the victim will be referred to the police. Likewise, non-NFIB recorded frauds and cyber enabled offences remain the responsibility of the police to record (i.e Other Fraud and Forgery or blackmail offences committed through social media/chatrooms etc).
    [Show full text]
  • Irish Crime Classification System (ICCS)
    Central Statistics Office, 17 April 2008 Irish Crime Classification System (ICCS) For further information contact Ger Healy 021 4535205 Sandra Tobin 021 4535307 Claire Burke 021 4535323 e-mail: [email protected] 1 Central Statistics Office, 17 April 2008 Table of Contents 1. Historical Perspective 3 1.1 Overly legal/historical emphasis 3 1.2 Comparability over time, capacity issues, blending of operational and statistical 4 1.3 Coherence between sources of information in the Crime and Justice area 5 2. Present and Future Perspectives - Rationale Used in the Development of ICCS 6 2.1 Accessibility, Clarity 6 2.2 Comprehensiveness of ICCS, Coverage of Crime Types and “Total” Crime 6 2.3 Continuity and future changes to ICCS, Version Control 7 2.4 Technical Characteristics of ICCS 8 2.5 Other Characteristics of ICCS 8 3. Irish Crime Classification System 10 3.1 Irish Crime Classification System (ICCS) 10 3.2 Irish Crime Classification System – Condensed (ICCSc) 16 Appendix I International Standards, UN Principles 18 2 Central Statistics Office, 17 April 2008 1 Historical Perspective The origins of the crime classification system used by An Garda Síochána stretches back to the 1920s. Various changes have been made to the classification since then, the most recent of which took place with the introduction of the Garda PULSE (Police Using Leading Systems Effectively) system, introduced in late 1999. Its introduction was primarily to service the information needs of the policing business area, but it also heralded major changes in the recording and compilation of crime statistics. In the pre-PULSE era, Garda crime statistics were based on the legal distinction made between Indictable and Non-Indictable categories.
    [Show full text]
  • Crime Recording General Rules
    Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime With effect from April 2021 Crime Recording General Rules Vision Crime Recording Vision and Purpose Statements NCRS National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) Section A Whether & When to Record Section B Classification & Re-classification Section C Removing Recorded Crimes Section D One Crime per Victim Section E Finished Incident Rule Section F Principal Crime Rule Section G Location of Crimes Section H Recorded Crime Outcomes Section I Other Investigating Authorities Section J Other Issues Annex A National Crime Recording Steering Group Protocol for Managing Reports of Crime Occurring in Other Police Force Areas Annex B Crime Recording (Schools Protocol) Annex C Principal Crime Look Up Table Points to Note Although these general rules have an overall application, there are exceptions for certain types of crime. These exceptions are stated on the counting rules page for that particular crime type. For this reason, counting rules for individual crime types should take precedence over the General Rules in cases where there is an apparent contradiction between the two. The term ‘crime’ in these rules should be taken to mean a crime which is recorded (i.e. notifiable to the Home Office). It should not be confused with crimes which are ‘recordable’ on the Police National Computer. All Counting Rules enquiries should be directed to the Force Crime Registrar Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime With effect from April 2021 Vision and Purpose Statements for Crime Recording Vision: That all police forces in England and Wales have the best crime recording system in the world: one that is consistently applied; delivers accurate statistics that are trusted by the public and puts the needs of victims at its core.
    [Show full text]
  • Mcbratney, Luke (2018) Perverting the Course of Justice. LL.M(R) Thesis
    McBratney, Luke (2018) Perverting the course of justice. LL.M(R) thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/81721/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Perverting the course of justice Luke William McBratney, LL.B, Dip.LP Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of LL.M by Research School of Law College of Social Sciences University of Glasgow September 2018 Abstract This thesis is concerned with the Scottish offence of perverting the course of justice. Perverting the course of justice is a well-established and commonly charged offence, but one which is poorly understood and whose development has been the subject of sceptical treatment in the major work on Scottish criminal law. This thesis traces that development, from the institutional writers to the modern day, and asks whether it was in accord with the norms of Scots law. It also asks whether that development has resulted in an offence, the elements of which can be described with confidence, or not.
    [Show full text]
  • User Guide to Police Powers and Procedures
    User guide to: Police powers and procedures, England and Wales Last updated: October 2020 Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3 2 Data Quality .................................................................................................................................. 4 3 User engagement ....................................................................................................................... 12 4 Glossary ...................................................................................................................................... 13 5 Conventions and revisions .......................................................................................................... 17 6 Arrests ......................................................................................................................................... 18 7 Stop and search .......................................................................................................................... 19 8 PACE powers – detentions, intimate searches, road checks ..................................................... 22 9 Fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences .............................................. 24 10 Breath tests ................................................................................................................................. 26 11 Detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983 ...........................................................................
    [Show full text]